This invention relates to a vacuum attachment for an abrading machine such as a portable rotary sander. This invention particularly relates to a vacuum shield for enclosing, and removing dust generated by, the abrasive wheel of a rotary sander while not interfering with the use of the sander.
Vacuum hoods or shields for tools, such as abrading machines, are well known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,673,744, 3,785,092, 3,824,745, 3,837,383, 3,935,678, 4,071,981, 4,135,334, 4,145,848, and 4,328,645. Typically, the interiors of such shields have been connected to one or more vacuum hoses which draw off dust generated within the shields by the abrading machines.
However, such shields have hindered the vision of the users of the abrading machines enclosed by such shields and have also prevented the abrading parts of such machines from reaching surfaces adjacent to intersecting walls or surfaces (e.g., in corners) which are to be abraded. This has made it difficult to use these shielded machines for abrading shaped and other non-flat surfaces to a highly smooth and uniform finish such as is required in the restoration and repair of, fo example, the sheet metal panels of automobile bodies. One solution of this problem has been to remove a portion of a shield's peripheral coverage of the abrading part of the abrading machine, but this has inevitably caused dust to escape from the resulting open portions of the shield. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,673,744 and 3,824,745.
There has been a need, therefore, for a vacuum shield for an abrading machine which allows the user of the abrading machine to view the surface being abraded and allows the abrading part of the machine, such as the abrasive wheel of a rotary sander, to reach every part of the surface without allowing dust to escape from the shield.